I have gutted my exhaust! Two questions..

I did a full gut by cutting the ends with a hacksaw in front of the weld, and the entire internals pulled right out. Right now there is NOTHING in the exhaust, it is just the cans. I am planning on having a shop weld the end caps back in place for me.

Question #1: Would you suggest keeping the mesh and padding part that lines the outside of the inside of the can? I'm thinking it might give the cans more substance and prevent any ring. (I did hear reports of a full gutting producing a tinny sound, or something like that.) I could not seem to find out if I should leave this piece in the exhaust.

Question #2: One person drilled out the inner exit pipes on the end caps with 1 1/2" holes. He says that it breaths and sounds much better. Can anyone comment on this? Do you find the stock exit pipes restrictive?

Thanks!
:tiger:

 

Sorry that I am not going to be of any help on your questions but it would be great if you could post some video of this when you are finished. I would be interested in the difference it makes. Don't believe I have seen any video with a 'full' gutting. thx

 

Ok so it's done and all I have to say is WOW!

Pulled ALL of the guts and I took it to a shop that welded the ends back together.

The bike sounds amazing. It sounds exactly like it "should". I feel like I am on a motorcycle now.

Starting from a full stop, you DO lose that initial bite, but it isn't bad at all and feels natural (I am not downplaying this.). Bonus is that it shifts better since the bike doesn't lose speed between shifts as much.

It just improved the sound below vtec and left everything else the same, which is perfect.


gigemVFR - I will get that video for you soon.

 

I have also opened mine up and gutted, although the guts in mine didn't just "fall out". I ended up having to chisel and break the welds and do a little careful drilling in some spots to clear it all. There have been numerous write ups on it. I then had the cut end welded back on at work and then re-attached the decorative ends with their screws. It's been a year now and I'm still glad I did it. Basically free compared to an aftermarket exhaust, and keeps the factory look which I like the most.

To answer your questions A. yes, just the thin mesh that lines just the inner wall of the can I kept | B. No. I wanted the exit pipes to align with the decorative end as it should when it's all re-assembled.

 

You still interested in hearing the exhaust? I will have some time this weekend.

 

Even if he's not the rest of us are. :beguiled: I am about to replace my mufflers that the previous owner tried to drill out but just bunged up the pipes inside so I will have those available for me to open up and play with so I will be following this thread as well.

 

I had done this 30000km ago. And only recently done the pair mod as the bike was having a flat spot on take off. Once the pair mod was made with new air filter it ran alot better. However, now I'm finding it's sounding tinny and the residue left on inner tunes are black. Possible running richer. Anyone else had this issue?

 

Wow, missed this somehow. Yes, I still would be interested in hearing since I have considered doing this myself. I did have a chance to listen to one up close since I ran into a guy who had done it too at a gas station and he told me to listen as he left but that was it. As he left, he was gone in two seconds so not much of a demo. thx

 

Years ago, we 919 owners did what we called the "Baffelectomy". It was basically what your #2 question entails.
That sounded really good on the 919.

But I bought my VFR used. It already had a carbon fiber can on it. I have no personal experience with modding the stock can on a VFR. I think all VFRs sound good. Some are just louder than others.

 

https://youtu.be/jZZbqAkutIc
That's my bike after the gutted exhaust. At the time sounded no different than someone with Staintunes

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1tP4EQ4uzI
I did the partial gut on my factory pipes - no welding - just $35 worth of hole saw and dremel cutoff wheels: a pipe-ectimy from the rear on all 4 pipes. I love the added growl, basically for free. Video above is not my bike, but shows the before/after, and you can see the bits that go missing. Keeps the factory look ;-)

 

My bike came to me with the gutted cans and I'm quite grateful it did, Love the sound of the V4 semi-unrestricted. I would say give it a go as is, because you can always go back and drill out anything you my deem necessary and that may be overkill.